“If they’re going to tell you how to field the ball, they are going to tell you why you need to field it this way,” outfielder Reagan Hathaway said. “It’s a lot easier to learn and grown when you can get behind what you’re being told to do.”

Said outfielder Kaitlyn Washington: “I think the main thing that the new coaches make us want to focus on is having intent with everything, intent and purpose. Even just putting on our cleats in the dugout, swapping our shoes out, everything has a purpose.”

Texas outfielder Kaitlyn Washington bats against Kansas at McCombs Field on March 28, 2018.JAMIE HARMS / FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Following White’s hire, only one of UT’s eligible returnees left the program. He inherits seven players who had 100 at-bats last year, and senior pitcher Brooke Bolinger threw 117 2/3 innings during an all-conference season. Additionally, the Longhorns added five freshmen and Seminole State College transfer Macy Smith.

“I think it would be great if we were gravitating more towards a set lineup (after the fall), but I don’t think it’s going to be finalized at all,” White said. “We don’t want it to be finalized. We want there to be competition.”

White will primarily work with a pitching staff that features Bolinger, sophomores Chloe Romero and Ariana Adams and freshman Shealyn O’Leary. The defense boasted the nation’s 12th-best fielding percentage this past season. Questions, though, linger about an offense that hit .268 and averaged 3.5 runs per game.

White described his style of play as aggressive. Upon his hire, White called out the team’s dismal power and base-running numbers. This week, working on plate discipline was on White’s to-do list. (Texas struck out 251 times while drawing 141 walks this past spring.) Since all four of UT’s coaches can throw, the Longhorns will participate in a lot of batting practice.

“The best form of defense is offense,” White said. “That prevent defense, you see that in football, right? We’ve given up chunks of yardage, so I don’t think sitting back and playing too defensively works very well.”